Five questions answered on the sale of Lloyds’ Spanish division

The company has not been doing well of late.

Lloyds banking group has announced it is selling its Spanish retail division to Spanish Bank business Banco Sabadell. We answer five questions on the deal.

How much has Lloyds sold its Spanish division for?

It has sold its Spanish retail banking business to Banco Sabadell for 1.8 per cent stake in the Spanish bank, which it will hold for at least two years. The deal also includes the transfer of £1.5bn of assets, such as retail mortgages and deposits. However, its corporate banking division wasn’t included in the sale.

Lloyds said the stake is worth about 84m euros ($110m; £72m). As a result of the sale the bank will make a £250m loss it said.

Banco Sabadell may also be required to pay a further £17m over the next five years, dependent on the profitability of the mortgage business.

Why is Lloyds selling off the Spanish part of its business?

Lloyds said the sale was part of its plan to reduce its international presence.

According to Reuters, Lloyds is cutting its presence from around 30 countries and has already sold operations in 12 countries over the last two years. The company wants to be in less than 15 countries by 2014.

It has also been trying to sell branches in the UK, as is required by European regulators as part of the government take over deal.

How big is Lloyds’ Spanish division?

It has total assets of £1.52 bn, which consist mainly of retail mortgages and deposits, plus 28 offices and a local investment management business.

It lost 43 million euros last year.

How well is the Spanish Bank Banco Sabadell doing?

Shares in the bank were 1.58 euros this morning, after they shed 30 per cent since August last year.

How well has Lloyds been doing of late?

The 39 per cent state owned bank has faced billions of pounds of losses recently in countries such as Ireland and Australia.

It was also dealt a blow last week when the Co-operative group pulled out of a deal to buy more than 600 branches of Lloyds. The bank is now planning to sell the branches as a stand-alone bank through stock market listing.